Heating air for metallurgical furnaces.



.W- GyPERKINS & W. M. BARKER. HEATING AIR FOB METALLURGICAL FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 25, 1910.

Patented June 27, 1911.

TED STATES PATET OFFCE.

WALTER GEORGE rename AND WILLIAM MATTHEW BARKER, or LONDON, ENGLAND.

HEATING AIR FOR METALLURGICAL FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patgntd J 11119 27, 1911.

Application filed February 25,1910. Serial m. 546,023.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that we, WALTER GEORGE PERKiNs, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at Whitehall Hotel, Montague street, London,England, and \VILLIAM MATTHEW BARKER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at 7 Salcombe Gardens, North Side, Clapham Common,London, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in andConnected with the Heating of Air for Metallurgical F urnaces, of whichthe following is a specification. I

Our invention relates to the heating 0 the air used for the blast inmetallurgical furnaces, and consists in passing such air over moltenslag in sucha manner, thatnot' only is the air heated but the slag iscooled or chilled and granulated or disintegrated.

In carrying out our invention we provide for introducing the slag into aclosed chamber o'rvessel through which the air for furnishing the blastis caused to flow, the slag being driven into the said chamber by a jet1 or jets of air in such a manner that it is. more or less broken up orreduced to par-Q ticles which offer a relatively large surface I forcontact with the air, whereby a relatively large proportion of the heatcarried by the slag is taken up by the air and returned to the furnacewith the blast.

The apparatus which we employ for carrying our invention intopractice,'consists of a chamber provided with an orifice through whichthe slag enters, and of a pipe for directing a current of highssure airagainst the in-coming slag and 'granulati'rrgit in the mannerhereinbefore referred to.

In order to prevent the escape of air from' the chamber, the air jet maybe directed through' the nozzle through which theslag enters, or theslag may be arranged to flow means are provided. for removing from timeto time the granulated slag which collects in the'bottom of the chamber.

Our invention will be readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawing, in which:-

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation illustrating the arrangement of ourinvention,wherein the high-pressure 'airjet .is injected through theorifice through which the slag a indicates'tlre closed chamber or vesselinto which the low-pressure air or blast enters through the pipe I) andfrom which it passes to the rear of the furnace through the pipe 0.

As shown in Fig. 1 the chamber a has upon ita hopper d into which theslag from the blast furnace settler e flows, and into which a nozzle ffor the high-pressureair jet dips, in such a manner that the slag whichenters the hopper (i will be driven through the orifice at the bottom ofthe hopper and will spread out and scatter in the chamber, thus ex osinga large area of surface to the blast air flowing through the chamber afrom the pipe I) 'to the pipe 0. The injected air from the nozzle 7being of higher pressure than the blast air flowing from the chamber tothe furnace, induces such a current through the orifice of the hopperthat the air in the said chamber a is prevented from flowing back intothe at mosphere. This injecting air jet can be so adjusted as to ressureand volume that it will be just su cient 'to'cool and break up themolten slag into granules and at the same time drive the slag into thechamber. The bottom of the chamber a is made hopper-shaped to receivethe granules, and is provided with a valve or gate g, or with awater-sealed trap, or otherwise so constructed that the cooled andgranulated slag may be removed from time to time. f

The apparatus shown in Fig. 2 diflers from that shown in Fig. 1, in thatthe slag instead of entering through a hopper cl under the direct actionof the air blast, enters such chamber through a trap h whichprevents-the escape of air. In-this modification the nozzle f for thehigh-pressure air jet is arranged to strike the current of slag asitenters the chamber.

The arrangements h'ereinbefore described are especially adapted for usein connection with blast and other furnaces from which there is acontinuous flow of slag. It is to be understood, however, that ourinvention is equally applicable for use in connection with furnaces fromwhich'the discharge of slag is intermittent; in such cases the slagwould be delivered into pots or portable reskimmed surfaces could beconveyed in slag pots or runners from the fura-nce to a suitablereverberatory furnace located near the chamber a, this furnace beingrovided With a fire-box to furnish heat to eep the slag stored in thefurnace hot and in a liquid.

state so that it will flow freely and continuously into the chamber awhen required.-

Witha properly constructed furnace for storing the molten slag, verylittle fuel would be required to keep the slag in a liquid condition.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our saidinvention and in What manner the same-is to be'performed, we declarethat what we claim is 1. The method of heatin blast airfor metallurgicalfurnaces, whic consists in introducing molten slag into a closed chamberat approximately the top of the same, and granu high pressure, causingit to fall in a granulated condition to the bottom of the chamber, andpassin the blast of air to be heated through the fa ling particles,substantially as described; y

2. An apparatus for heating blast air for metallurgical furnaces,comprising a closed.

chamber having an inlet and'an outlet for the current of air to beheated, said chamber having an inlet for the molten slag, and means forcausing air under high pres: sure to granulate the slag to cause thesame ating the same by a jet of air-under to fall through theair to be,heated, substan- 1 tially as described.

3. An apparatus allurgical and other furnaces, comprising a closedchamber having an'inlet for admitting molten's'lag thereto, an inlet forair under high pressure to granulate said slag, an inlet for the air tobe heated directing said current of air through the granulated slag andan outlet for the heated air.

for heating air for met 4. An apparatus for heating air for metchamberhaving an-inlet and an outlet for the air to be heated and rovidingfor'the passage of a current of suc airthrough said chamber,- an inletfor the admission of mol- 7 ten "slag to said chamber, a nozzle fortheadmission of a jet ofair under high pressure located to engage themolten slag above the current of air to be heated, whereby thegranulated slag will fall through the said air current. I

WALTER GEORGE PERKINS.

WILLIAM IliATTHEW BARKER. Witnesses: i

H. D. JAMIJSON, R. F. Wnmrams.

